Double Your Pleasure

Here is a double whammy of two interesting stories I heard about on the radio today. Thus I thought I’d share them to you in this two for one smorgasbord of media.

Let Me Show You The Real China
Hey remember how people used to always joke about how long it was taking Guns N’ Roses to release Chinese Democracy? Well now those days are over as GN’R announced today that their long overdue sixth album will be available on November 23rd. Along with the announcement was the release of a new single from the album titled what else but “Chinese Democracy”. I checked it out on Youtube and wasn’t particularly impressed, but then again I’ve never really been much of a fan. I post this more as an interesting piece of news within the music world. If their album is good then good for them and their fans, if it isn’t then that’d be pretty funny seeing 15 something years all for a so-so album or maybe worse who knows.. It’s not my type of music so I don’t know how fans have felt about some of the current songs floating around. Hmm, I remember reading earlier this year that Dr. Pepper, would give everyone in America a free can of pop if GN’R released Chinese Democracy this year, I really hope that offer still stands.

Z-Day
In local sports, the Seattle Mariners named former vice president/special assistant to the general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers Jack Zduriencik (pronounced Zur-EN-sik) as the latest Mariners General Manager. At 57 years old Jack has had experience as a scout and front office worker with the Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and Dodgers. He is often credited for helping turn around the once terrible Brewers organization into a respectable ball club. Jack is held in high regard in baseball circles and last year became the first non-general manager to be named Major League Baseball’s executive of the year by Baseball America. All this news is quite refreshing for M’s fans and I can’t wait to see What the Z-Man can do for our poor ball club.

n00bs of the Old Republic

The announcement we all saw coming finally came today, and it even has the name we were guessing. That’s right, Bioware, the guys behind Knights of the Old Republic, are working on a Star Wars MMO set 300 years after KotOR2, called Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Set during a period of tenuous peace between the Republic and the Sith, players will be free to choose either side. There’s a heavy emphasis on story based on class, and you can be either a hero or villain regardless of faction. You’ll probably be able to play as more than just human Jedi, but we haven’t seen much yet. Still, Bioware is one of the best RPG developers, the KotOR franchise will make for a great MMO, and while details are scarce, with no release date window or anything, I’m very excited to play this some day in the future.

Since it’s hard to post about video games without bringing up Rock Band, I’ll do that too. Rock Band 2 came with a code to download 20 songs for free. Those songs have been announced, and it’s pretty disapointing. In fact, I don’t think I’ve heard of any of these bands. I guess that’s why it’s free.

The 88 – “Sons and Daughters”

Authority Zero – “No Regrets”

Between the Buried and Me – “Prequel To The Sequel”

The Cab – “Bounce”

The Chevelles – “Get It On”

The Cocktail Slippers – “Give It To Me”

Dealership – “Database Corrupted”

Endeverafter – “I Wanna Be Your Man”

The Ghost Hounds – “Ashes To Fire”

Hollywood Undead – “Young”

Kutless – “The Feeling”

The Len Price 3 – “If I Ain’t Got You”

Lesley Roy – “I’m Gone, I’m Going”

Opiate for the Masses – “Burn You Down”

Semi-Precious Weapons – “Magnetic Baby”

Shaimus – “Like a Fool”

Thenewno2″ – Crazy Tuesday”

Tickle Me Pink – “The Time Is Wrong”

Underoath – “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures”

X Japan – “I.V.”

Ah well. These are downloadable November 4. The code is on the back of the game manual.

C.A.T: Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One

The Kinks – Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970)
Among my favorite albums ever, Lola is the best album by the Kinks and one of the classic rock albums of the 1970s. “Lola” is probably the band’s most well-known song, but that is just a hint of the greatness contained in these 14 tracks.

The Kinks stadle both folk and hard rock with the songs here, with softer tunes like “Get Back in the Line” and rockers like “Powerman.” There is a story of sorts here, an investigation of many of the aspects of the music industry. “This Time Tomorrow” is about life on the road, “Top of the Pops” is about business taking over the creative process. You get the impression that the band got burned by the industry, but I’m too lazy to research them right now.

So “Lola.” This is an awesome song, everyone loves it. If they don’t, they love the Weird Al parody. Despite lyrics in the song putting it pretty clearly, a lot of people still question whether Lola is a transvestite. She is. Deal with it.

Of course, “Lola” isn’t the only great song on here, there a plenty. Anyone who saw The Darjeeling Limited will be familiar with “This Time Tomorrow”, “Strangers”, and “Powerman.” There’s also a pretty good chance you’ve heard “Apeman.” All these songs are awesome. This is a classic and there’s not a dud to be found.

I love this album. I know John does to. If you haven’t yet checked this out, I really implore you to do so. Oh, and even though it’s called “Part One,” I have no idea what could be considered part two.

Favorite Tracks: “The Contenders,” “This Time Tomorrow,” “Lola”

Unofficial T3: The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Well it’s that time of year again that we celebrate the birth of one of our own, Mr. Reverend Matthew Steven “Nancy/The Wiz” Carstens. Today marks his 20th birthday and by his own definition makes him a “Grown Ass Man”. So now let’s look at what some of his closet friends and colleagues have to say about the man.

“He’s dirty, short and I don’t like him, but he’s got a good heart.” –Paul Otteni

“He’s a born leader always making the calls to put stuff together like wiffleball games and he never gives up hope. When I grow up I want to be just like him.” -John Otteni

“I’ve always liked the fact that he pretty much doesn’t take anything seriously. He seems to be able to laugh at any situation, even a funeral.” -Me

“Don’t worry about him he’s just kind of retarded” – Max Brockman

“matt carstens is the truth.” –Oliver McIntosh (Facebook comment)

“Matt’s a great guy. He’s funny, is a solid musician, and loves to get his wiffleball on. You can’t ask much more of a guy.” -Peter Williams

“He turned out to be a pretty great friend considering I only became friends with him for his Star Wars figures.” -Sean Lemme

“This picture captures every part of his personality perfectly.” –> -A.J. Swan (Drunken Myspace Comment)

“ur a fuckin faget

do u want to die….”-Don’t Hate Apprecitate (myspace comment)

“Matt is a sincere friend, that I can always count on to back me up 100%. Dick’s Drive Inn is a very important place to me and Matt is the only one I can always count on to always want to go. He also always excepts my crazy ideas whether golfing or going to some foreign place-I can always count on at least 1 “Let’s to it.” He joins me on journeys all about the world and the best part is he doesn’t just come with me, he brings company, humor, and a good spirit.” – Kevin Lemme

Nevermind Adding the Popular Tracks

Remember last week when we celebrated the 90s? Remember how Nirvana’s Nevermind was on everyone’s list of albums. Yeah… Good times.

Now, I have to ask you if you remember something else, Rock Band and the longstanding hope that we would get to play this classic album within it. This week we get a little closer to that goal with the release of a ton of tracks. For only $11, Rock Band players can scoop up:

“Breed”
“Lounge Act”
“On a Plain”
“Polly”
“Something in the Way”
“Stay Away”
“Territorial Pissings”

With “In Bloom” and “Drain You” already in the Rock Band games this leaves just the three arguably most popular tracks off the album, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Come as You Are,” and “Lithium.” Except for “Endless, Nameless,” and who knows if that will ever show up… Frankly, those three songs should make a sweet 3-pack at a later date, and I’m sure we all can’t wait to play through the whole album.

A Film Not to Be Misunderestimated

W.

Oliver Stone has always been a personal filmmaker in that his films often reflect events that have had a significant impact on his generation. Whether it’s Vietnam, the JFK Assassination, or 9/11 his movies are often unique portrayals of the unpredictable world around him. Sure they’re not always completely factual or don’t always hit on all the key components that made something important but as a filmmaker he’s completely fearless with a strong vision and that’s always something worth keeping an eye out for.

W. is Stone’s latest venture delving into the realm of our countries worst presidency. Penned by Stanley Weiser known in for his screenplays to such films as Wall Street and Murder in Mississippi, we are now given a detailed look at W’s life mixed in with plenty of insight on the mess that is now the Iraq War. As a whole W. is something of a tragic comedy and that’s just the perfect tone for a movie about a man “Misunderestimated”.

Josh Brolin of No Country For Old Men fame dons the lead role of and with a spot on Texas drawl is reason enough to see this underdog story. Along Junior’s road of hangovers and failed commitments we get to meet a lot of other important players in his life, often played to a tee. Richard Dreyfuss is a definite highlight as the cold soul we all know as Dick Cheney. Toby Jones is as well notable as Bush’s puppet-master Karl Rove and the list goes on. Though my friends and I all seemed to agree that Thandie Newton’s exaggerated imitation of Condoleezza Rice was painful, she was the only real weak link.

It seems like there’s an incredible bias from conservatives towards this film saying it’s just a bunch of left wing propaganda but I assure you like Stone’s 1995 film Nixon, it’s a very fair portrayal. Sure we get plenty of scenes of W. stumbling around his words but we also get to see the story of a man that managed to step out of his father’s immense shadow to make a name for himself in politics. Bush more than anything is portrayed in a sympathetic light as a man who wanted to make his mark but wasn’t sure where to go from there. The movie doesn’t make me like him anymore as politician but as just another individual you kind of feel bad for this good ol’ boy.

So should Oliver Stone of waited a bit longer before he made W.? Probably, I’m not sure that this man’s story is entirely over but regardless of that it’s still a fascinating and entertaining film. It may be incomplete but it really makes you think and for that I commend this film. This is probably Stone’s best film of this decade and an important documenting of a very bizarre time in history… Then again who cares about that, in history we’ll all be dead.

90s Week: Wrap Up

No extreme list or rad retrospective today, I’d just like thank everyone for their participation in yet another successful theme week. Maybe the 90s didn’t specifically have anything do with what’s currently going on around us, but it gave us a chance to reminisce about a time so dear to our hearts. Who knows when we’ll do our next theme week…. Perhaps a Christmas themed week? Anything is possible… Wrapping it up I’ll leave you with one of my favorite commercials from the 90s featuring a young Ethan Supplee, enjoy!